


It Was Meant To Be A Cold

by KazOfScotland



Series: KCAWS 30 Days of Winter Writing 2021 [8]
Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: Cancer, Gen, Hidden illness, M/M, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, acceptance of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28677363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazOfScotland/pseuds/KazOfScotland
Summary: Mario thought that it was just a cold, of course he did, but when did the world ever give him a break. No this cold, it was so much worse than just a cold.
Relationships: Angus Leighton/Mario Savetti
Series: KCAWS 30 Days of Winter Writing 2021 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111565
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7
Collections: 30 Days of Winter Writing





	It Was Meant To Be A Cold

It was just a cold. That was all it was, only it wasn’t. It was much worse. And he should have known. He should have known that it wasn’t that simple. It would never be that simple or easy. The world clearly wanted him to suffer more than he already had. 

He had fallen in love so easily, so quietly, but he had never had the chance to admit it. He had never had the chance to let the person he had fallen in love with know how he felt. But now, as he was sitting in front of another doctor receiving the worst news of his life, he could only wish that he had been brave enough. However, in some ways he was glad that he hadn’t, because then, then Angus wouldn’t have to deal with this as well. Angus wouldn’ t have to pretend that he didn’t want to run for the hills. 

Despite all of that, despite everything that was about to happen, he was too terrified to deal with this on his own. He had been dealing with so much on his own for his whole life. He had faced so many challenges throughout his life, but this had to be the worst challenge ever. 

An illness that was meant to be a cold. A common cold. But it was so much worse. A sore throat, and feeling run down all of the time. Random fits of coughing. It sounded like a cold, but it was worse. It was potentially fatal. It was cancer. It was serious because he had ignored it, he thought that it was a common cold, so he, a doctor, had ignored it. 

He refused to let it stop him. He did everything that the doctors told him. He followed every single one of their instructions except for the one that said he was to stop working. Everything he had in the world, everyone he had in the world all came from working at Angels. His family was those he worked with, his reason to get out of bed in the morning, that was his job at Angels. If he stopped now, it would be like admitting defeat. It would be as if he was saying that this was the end. 

He honestly thought that he could have kept going, that he could push through until he was either in remission or the cancer was so advanced that there was no chance of anything changing, no chance of remission. He thought that he could keep going. But again, he was wrong. 

He was thankfully not with a patient when it happened. He had just finished, and there was only Angus and Jesse there. He had been standing talking to them, and then he had been coughing, coughing enough that he was worried about the fact that he was starting to taste the copper-like taste of blood in his mouth. He tried to catch his breath but he couldn’t, and then there were dark dots beginning to appear in his vision. It was clear that consciousness was starting to fade, all he could hope was that he didn’t crack his head open as he fell. 

Mario was willing to admit that he was surprised when he woke up. The last thing he could remember was the look of worry crossing the faces of Angus and Jesse. He knew that he had been pushing himself too far, especially as his treatments had begun to affect his whole body. He could feel himself getting tired more easily, previously he could have gone his whole shift at Angels and still been willing to keep going. Now? Now, it was a miracle if he made it through half of his shift before he could feel the exhaustion settling in. 

He was also kind of annoyed by the fact that he woke up. He felt like hell. He had been feeling that way for weeks, and he had a hard time considering admitting it but he had hoped that he just wouldn’t wake up, that it would just all end. But he also had this strange feeling that he was being watched, and he wanted to find out who it was. So he forced himself to open his eyes and let them roam across the room until he realised that Angus was sitting next to his bed. It was only then that he noticed the annoying beep of the machines that reassured the doctors that he was in fact alive. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Angus asked him as he leaned forwards and took his hand. It was ridiculous that that one action set his whole body alight, especially considering how bad he felt most of the time. It was as if for a minute, Angus was the perfect medicine to make it all go away. “Cancer is an illness, it’s treatable.” 

“I know, I know.” That was all he could answer. There was nothing else that he could tell him, especially as his head was swimming. It had been since the day that he had found out. The common cold, a common illness, was so much more, so much worse. He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe that Angus was still sitting there next to him. “It’s bad. I’m going to die, Angus. Why should you all worry about me for the last of my borrowed time?” 

And that was what it came down to. Why should anyone care about him after everything that he had caused, everything that he had done? It would be fine, he would make peace and find happiness eventually. 

  
  



End file.
